Cable-tramway.



H. H. PETER.

CABLE TBAMWAY.

APPLICATION FILED 001. 2a, 1909.

Patented Jan. 18,1910,

munzw. B. GRAHAM (20.. woTo-umunrwusn. wnsmnarou a c HANS HEINRICH PETER, OF ZURICH, SWITZERLAND.

GABLE-TRAIVIWAY.

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To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HANS HEINRICH PETER, a citizen of the Republic of Switzerland, and a resident of Zurich, in the Canton of Zurich, Switzerland, have invented new and useful Improvements in Cable-Tramways, of which the following is a specification.

It is a known fact that in cable ways, and especially so in funiculars, in the majority of cases, at least two guide or standing ropes are provided for each car. To avoid excess ive deflection of the second cable in case one of the cables should snap or break, from which a sudden thrust and a jerking motion of the car would ensue, efforts have already been made to overcome this diliiculty, by loading the ropes with a common movable tension weight, so that in case of a break down of one of the ropes, the entire amount of tension weight passes over to the remaining rope. But in doing so, just the contrary of what was aimed at, has been the result, for it stands to reason that the sudden passing over of the entire amount of tension weight, calculated for the ropes own weight plus the hauled load, to one rope only, will have the unavoidable effect that, owing to the modified conditions of equilibrium of the car in positions intermediate the ends of the cable way, necessarily brought about as a result of the seculsion of the own weight of the broken rope, the remaining rope will suddenly be tightened to considerably greater an extent, which will give a big lift to the car and this by reason of the ensuing violent vertical swinging and the final drop, may cause the other rope to break too, leading thus to a disaster.

In the cable way forming the object of my present invention, with at least two standing ropes for each car, each rope is connected with a separate tension weight and all the ropes pertaining to one car, are detachably connected by a common tension weight, so that in case of a rope breaking, the tension weight pertaining to this particular rope will be precluded from the re maining ropes for the sake of maintaining practically the same conditions of equilibrium of the car which prevailed previously and prior to the break down of one of the ropes.

In the accompanying drawing, which forms part of this application, several em-' bodiments of my invention are shown by Way of example.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed October 26, 1909.

Patented Jan. 18, 1910. Serial No. 524,766.

Figure l is a side view of one embodiment of my invention, used in connection with a funicular with two guide or standing ropes. Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic view of the funicular curve for two, or one single rope in relation to the polygons of forces as per Figs. 2 and 8, corresponding to a location of the car in C. Fig. 2 shows a polygon of forces in relation to Fig. 1, with two unbroken ropes. Fig. 3 shows the same, with one broken and one unbroken rope. Figs. 4 to 6 show modified forms of the suspending device for the tension weights with the application of two and four ropes.

In the polygon of forces according to Fig. 2, the line marked Gr indicates the weight of the car per rope, P the amount of force with which the car bears against each of the two ropes F, F T the amount of the total weight of the tension weights per rope, B the amount of the maximum load per rope.

The polygon of forces illustrated in Fig. 3 shows exactly the same as Fig. 2, after the break down of one of the ropes, while the lines marked G indicate the weight of the car with which the same bears upon the remaining rope, T the amount of the total weight of the tension weights for the remaining rope and B the amount of the maximum load to which the rope is subjected. The component of the lever of force has, for simplicitys sake been omitted in the polygon of forces, on account of its insignificance and trifl ng importance, and especially also because in practice the dimensions of the traction rope or ropes may be so chosen, that the traction ropes and the upper part of the standing ropes, in the points where the car rests on the ropes, are having more or less the same direction, so that the influence of the component of the traction rope tension on the load to which the ropes are subjected, is practically without any consequence. The ropes F, F are moored independently from each other with their upper ends at the station marked N, the mannerin which this is done not being shown in the drawing, while at the station marked M the lower ends are each carried over a rope pulley. These latter ends of the ropes are each connected with a tension weight S. Beyond these tension weights, there is furthermore arranged between them a tension weight S which is detachably connected with the lower ends of both of the ropes F, F.

The suspending of the tension weights may be done in the manner shown in Figs. 4 to 6. According to the embodiment shown in Fig. at, the lower ends of the ropes are each provided with a gudgeon Z, to which are secured the tension weights S. Suspended on both gudgeons is the common tension weight S its levers catching over the gudgeons Z. Should one of the two ropes slacken, the tension weight S, pertaining thereto, will be displaced in relation to the other tension weights by reason of which the tension in the slackened rope will decrease, whereas it will be somewhat increased in the other rope, because its total weight becomes increased by half the weight of the tension weight S, this hanging now only on the shorter rope. Seeing that in such a case the tension in the unslackened rope increases by a fraction, the tension weight of this, in sympathy with that of the slackened rope, will also sag to a certain extent. Moreover, in view of the greater strain to which it is subjected, the shorter rope will soon also slacken somewhat, so that the tension weight S after a short while, will again be carried by both ropes conjointly. Should it now happen that one of the ropes breaks, its tension weight will fall into the pit Z), in which during operation of the cable way the tension weights, according to the variations in the intensity of deflection of the ropes, are moving up and down, while the tension weight S will remain suspended on the unbro en rope. Seeing that now the weight of the car, or say its component has gone over altogether to the one rope, the car would inthe absence of a corresponding increase of the tension, find itself on substantially a different level, the fact however of the other half of the tension weight S passing over to the remaining rope, will prevent such a modification of the condition of equilibrium of the car, seeing that the tension in the unbroken rope increases correspondingly, the moment the other rope breaks. In order to avoid that the then ensuing slight slackening of the remaining unbroken rope sets in quite at a sudden, there may be provided at the deviation pulleys, located in front of the tension weights, any desired kind of a flexible stopping arrangement, which is not shown in the drawing.

Fig. 6 shows a combination of the tension weights, with the application of four ropes. Each of the ropes is on the one hand permanently connected with a tension weight S and also detachablywith a common tension weight S For the rest, the connection of the tension weights with the ropes is identical to that indicated in Fig. 1. This way any desired number of ropes, up to the limits dictated by practical reasons and technical considerations, may be loaded in such a manner that always one common automatically detachable tension weight is connected with all the ropes, and also each rope is permanently connected with a separate tension weight, being independent from the other tension weights, so that in the event of a break down of separate ropes, the amount of the total weight of the tension weights of the remaining unbroken ropes, will be moditied in such a manner, that after the break down of one or several ropes, exactly the same conditions of equilibrium of the moving car, whatever its location may be, will continue to prevail just as it was prior to the breaking of one or several ropes. The common tension weight may also be connected in a different way with the various tension weights permanently connected by their respective ropes, admitting of a selfacting release of the tension weights connected permanently with their rope.

In lieu of arranging the tension weights at the lower ends of the ropes, said tension weights may just as well be arranged. at the upper ends in the manner as hereinbefore described and in such a case of course, the lower ends of the ropes will be moored independent of each other. This offers the facility to determine exactly, with regard to each of the several embodiments, the maximum tension of the ropes, seeing that in accordance with this maximum tension, the several ropes will participate with an equal share in the total amount of weight.

The cable tramway as hereinbefore de scribed and shown is offering in addition this further advantage that in view of the uniform distribution of the weight of the car between all of the remaining ropes, after a breakage has taken place. much higher demands may be made in all respects to the etliciency and safety of the service, than was possible heretofore. The heavier in each instance the load to be hauled and the greater thus the number of ropes in the plant, the less will a break down or the preclusion of one of the ropes affect the safety of service of the other ropes.

It goes without saying that the hereinbefore described combination of the tension weights is also applicable to such cable ways, in which in each direction, or say on each track with at least two ropes, there are circulating instead of one single car, several of them, one behind the other, in other words, the same is applicable to all cable ways in which one or several cars are circulating on a track formed by at least two or more cables.

hat I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A cable tramway of the character described, comprising two cables for one car, each cable being loaded with a tension weight, a common tension weight, for both cables, detachably connected to them, the tension weight of a broken cable being adapted to be displaced in relation to the other, and said common tension weight being precluded from the remaining cable for the purpose of maintaining the equilibrium of the car practically the same as before the break of said cable, substantially as described and for the purpose set forth. v

2. A cable tramway of the character described, comprising a plurality of cables for each car, each cable being loaded with a tension weight, a common tension weight for the cables, detachably connected to them, the tension weight of a broken cable being adapted to be displaced in relation to the others and said common tension weight, being precluded from the remaining cables for the purpose of maintaining the equilibrium of the car practically the same as it was before the break of said cable, substantially as described and for the purpose set forth.

A cable tramway of the character described, comprising a plurality of cables for each car, each cable being loaded with a tension weight, all of said weights being suspended independently from each other, a common tension weight for the cables detachably connected to them, the tension weight of a broken cable being adapted to be displaced in relation to the others, and said common tension weight being precluded from the remaining cables for the purposes of maintaining the equilibrium of the car practically the same as it was before the break of said cable, substantially as described and for the purpose set forth.

4. A cable tramway of the character described, comprising a plurality of cables for each car, each cable being loaded with a tension weight, a common tension weight for the cables detachably connected to them, the

tension Weight of a broken cable being adapted to be displaced in relation to the others, and the common tension weight being adapted to be automatically detached from a broken cable for the purpose of transferring the entire weight of the common tension weight to the remaining cables, substantially as described and for the purpose set forth.

5. A cable tramway of the character de scribed, comprising a plurality of cables for each car, each cable being loaded with a tension weight, a common tension weight for the cables detachably connected to them, the tension weight of a broken cable being adapted to be displaced in relation to the others, and the common tension weight being adapted to be automatically detached from a broken cable as soon as the sag of said cable is exceeding a certain limit for the purpose of transferring the entire weight of the common tension weight to the remaining cables, substantially as described and for the purpose set forth.

6. A cable tramway of the character described, comprising a plurality of cables for each car, each cable being loaded with a tension weight, a common tension Weight for the cables detachably connected to them and being suspended from hooks open at their underside, the tension weight of a broken cable automatically detaching itself from the common tension weight, substantially as described and for the purposes set forth.

Signed by me at Zurich, Switzerland, this 13th day of October 1909.

HANS HEINRICH PETER.

WVitnesses HEINRICH RINDERKNECHT, CARL GUBLER. 

